Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Stock Price Breaks Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR)’s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $149.96 and traded as high as $161.13. Quaker Houghton shares last traded at $160.6270, with a volume of 96,660 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price (up from $172.00) on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Quaker Houghton from $198.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Quaker Houghton from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quaker Houghton from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $188.00.

Quaker Houghton Trading Up 0.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $161.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.19.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $532.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $504.63 million. Quaker Houghton had a return on equity of 9.55% and a net margin of 4.94%. Quaker Houghton’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 16th. This is a positive change from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.5080. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Quaker Houghton’s payout ratio is 37.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Quaker Houghton news, Director William Osborne sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.31, for a total transaction of $100,986.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 616 shares in the company, valued at $103,678.96. The trade was a 49.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quaker Houghton

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KWR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Quaker Houghton in the second quarter worth approximately $335,290,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quaker Houghton in the 2nd quarter worth $66,810,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Quaker Houghton in the 2nd quarter worth $37,045,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Quaker Houghton during the second quarter valued at $31,472,000. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Quaker Houghton during the second quarter valued at about $26,259,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

About Quaker Houghton

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) is a global provider of industrial process fluids and services. The company develops, manufactures and supplies chemical formulations used to improve performance, efficiency, safety and product quality in manufacturing and metalworking operations.

Its product portfolio includes metal-removal and metal-forming fluids, hydraulic and specialty fluids, industrial cleaners, coatings, corrosion preventives and fire-resistant fluids. Quaker Houghton also provides fluid-management programs, technical support, equipment and related services designed to help customers manage industrial processes and maintenance requirements.

The company serves customers in industries including steel, aluminum, automotive, aerospace, mining, machinery and other general manufacturing markets.